The last time Brandal Orr spoke to his 8-year-old son, Bryson, the two were looking forward to spending time together on the Fourth of July with relatives at the boy’s Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood home.
Instead Bryson and his mother would be killed that day along with another mom when several gunman opened fire into the house, leaving two other young boys shot and clinging to their lives.
“He was just an innocent child living life in the house,” Orr said. “I’m lost, I’m trying to figure out what’s going on.”
Orr was working his overnight shift at an Amazon warehouse when one of his sons called him saying “someone just shot up the house.”
“I was so frustrated that I threw my phone and cracked it, broke it all up,” Orr said. “It was so devastating.”
Police have so far given no motive for the shooting and said no arrests have been made.
About 6:15 a.m., officers responding to a ShotSpotter gunshot detection alert as well as 911 calls found two women, ages 42 and 24, along with the children — ranging in age from 5 to 8 — all wounded inside the home in the 7100 block of South Woodlawn Avenue, CPD Deputy Chief Don Jerome said shortly after the shooting.
Horrified witnesses inside the home told officers as many as four gunmen “shot up the place,” according to police reports obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The ShotSpotter alert detected at least 26 rounds, according to the police reports, which said shell casings were found in the street in front of the house, on the sidewalk, on the front stoop of the house and inside the house.
Witnesses told detectives the shooters possibly left two vehicles on 72nd Street and fled after the shooting, according to the reports.
The officers provided first aid, but Bryson’s mom, 45-year-old Nakeeshia Strong, was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she died a short time later.
Another relative and the mother to the two surviving boys, Capri Edwards, 24, was dead on the scene, officials said.
The boys were all taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition and Bryson died there about seven hours after the attack.
Strong’s 19-year-old son Frank Mixon told reporters that day she was “the love of my life for sure.”
“She worked day and night, took care of kids that weren’t hers, taking care of the kids that are hers,” Mixon sai.
A happy, loving and sweet child
Orr described his son as a “happy, loving and sweet” child who loved playing football.
“We buy him everything he asked for,” Orr said. “He was a good kid, very smart.”
Bryson and his father would see each other in person or over FaceTime every day, Orr said.
They always greeted each other with a special handshake: crossing fists and “colliding” their hands together, and finally both touching their hearts, saying “love you.”
“He was a normal kid that liked to have fun,” Orr said. “He was just trying to grow.”
Orr stressed that getting justice for the murders was important.
“[The shooters] came with intent to kill innocent people,” Orr said. “They need to be brought in for justice.”
Pastor Corey Brooks, founder of Project H.O.O.D., reached out to their family and others who lost loved ones over the extended holiday weekend.
“I’ve contacted the families to let them know whatever we can do to help them … We can help them and be of assistance to them, we’re more than willing to do that,” Brooks said.